Evacuate
by DCFanatic4life
Summary: He told her he wasn't leaving and he wasn't leaving. One-shot based on Raw for January 19, 2008...


**Disclaimer: I do not own the real people or the characters in this story. The characters belong to the WWE and the people own themselves.

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A/N: Okay, so I was watching Raw tonight and like, when Chris said he wasn't going to leave Steph's office, this came to mind. I know he left, but this is if he hadn't left and just stayed. It goes along with storyline so they're in character. It's a one-shot.

Hope you enjoy and leave a review!

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"_I'm not going anywhere…"_

"I'm not going anywhere," she muttered under her breath, not glancing up at the man who was still sitting on her couch. He was just sitting there, looking at the screen that broadcast the show, sitting there like he owned the place. She sucked at her teeth a little.

"Did you say something, Steph?" he said derisively, turning his head to look at her. He gave her a little bit of a smirk and she grumbled to herself before looking down at the paperwork.

"No," she muttered.

"I didn't think so," he said, "so when do you think your dad is going to be here?"

"You're honestly just going to sit there and ask me questions?" she asked through gritted teeth. She couldn't believe the nerve of this man. He came into _her_ office after she had fired him and acted like he owned the joint. How dare he make it feel like she was a visitor in her own office.

"Just curious," he said casually.

"Stop talking to me and I swear to God, Jericho, once my father gets here, he is going to fire you once again, so just shut up and enjoy the last few moments you get to be on this show."

"I will," he said, taking another sip of that water of his. She wanted to grab that water bottle and throw it at his head. After dumping the remaining water on him of course. She smiled as she visualized this very image running through her mind.

Chris saw her and wondered what had her smiling, but he didn't ask her the question on the tip of his tongue. No, he felt like letting the silence settle over them once again. He felt like that was the most unsettling for her. He liked making her feel uncomfortable because then maybe she would just leave and let him stay here until her father came and he could get his job back.

"I don't even know why you're in here," she told him.

He didn't say anything, just took another sip of his water and left her be. He heard her huff and go back to her work. He smiled inwardly. She was getting riled up. There was something so fun about getting Stephanie riled up like that. In the years they hated each other, he had learned all the buttons to push with her. He made it an art form, really, pushing her buttons. Sometimes he'd start off slow and then go in quick and fast and sometimes he'd get her mad right off the bat and then let her go off the deep end. It was always so fun to see her go off the deep end.

"You were fired, I don't know who let you in the building," she said again.

Still not a word from him. He could feel her temperature start to rise and he delighted in it. This was exactly what he wanted to happen. Then when she was out there with her father, maybe she'd just go completely ballistic and he would see what a crackpot his daughter really was as the General Manager of this show. Then he would fire her and he would get his job back and maybe an impromptu invitation into the World Title Match at the Royal Rumble. That certainly made his mood rise.

But was Stephanie really such a bad General Manager? He thought back to the way Randy had spoken about her earlier that evening. He was using a lot of hyperbole when referring to Stephanie. The guys weren't laughing behind her back and they didn't think she was nothing. Sure, some of them thought she had gotten her position because of her last name and being Vince's daughter. She did have a great business sense; he had seen it when they were business partners. She probably did deserve the position. It just made work more fun when he could antagonize her and while there was anger behind his interactions with her, he just loved to see that fire in her eyes.

"My daughter is sick tonight, you know, I don't need this."

He wanted to say something, but he didn't. He wanted to ask her how her daughter was, but that would be giving in to her. He wondered why she would even show up if her daughter was sick. He looked over at her and she was looking down and there was a scowl on her face. He turned back to the television and let the question die on his lips. He turned again to her, but her nose seemed deeper in her paperwork.

"My father probably won't rehire you."

She was baiting him now and he bit his lip. She wanted him to answer, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. She thought she could read him and push _his_ buttons, but she couldn't. She always tried, putting him through a set, throwing water at him, firing him, but he was always outsmarting her, getting the best of her and he hoped this time would be no different. She wasn't really bad at her job, he just kind of liked to get on her nerves. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have gotten in her face last week.

Stephanie finished up with her work, but she wasn't going to leave this office. That would just be giving him the satisfaction. No, she was going to sit here and wait it out. If that was his plan, it was now her plan too. She could wait here, she had nowhere better to go. She could wait all night if that's what it took. Yes, she could sit here all night, arms folded, her expression steely. Two could play his stupid little game.

She studied him for a long moment. He had such a strong profile, fierce, competitive. If he wasn't such an asshole to her, maybe they could reach some sort of common ground. But he had to antagonize her week in and week out and she'd had no choice but to fire him for his insubordination. It was all his fault really, calling her out like that. She couldn't just take it, that wouldn't have been her style. She wasn't the kind of person who let one of her employees talk like that.

The quiet was still uncomfortable and she shifted around in her seat like she wanted to talk to him, but she didn't. She kept her eyes glued on him though. It was actually interesting to see the way the television's light bounced around his eyes. It was almost enchanting. Still, he should've left when she told him to and there was no way her father was going to rehire him. Maybe he could get a job somewhere else, go back to that radio show or whatever it was that he had. She was sure he'd be fine without the show.

He opened his mouth once and she was convinced he was going to tell her to stop staring at him, but he closed it again without saying anything. She opened her mouth next to tell him one more time that he should leave, but he didn't. She leaned her chin in her hand and let the unsettling quiet consume them once again. Even the volume on the television was low, why was it so low? Had he turned that down? She lost herself in looking at him, willing him to leave.

"What went wrong?" he finally said and she was in such a trance she hadn't noticed the movement of his mouth until she had heard the words from his lips.

"What do you mean?"

"With us," he said, finally looking over at her. His gaze was so sharp she had to turn away.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Jericho."

"Except that you know exactly what I'm talking about, Stephanie," he told her and she caught the hint of teasing in his voice, but she wouldn't relent.

"My father is going to be here soon so you might want to get out of here and go plan whatever argument you have going."

"I know what I'm going to say," Chris told her and she knew he really didn't, but his tongue was like quicksilver and he would be just the right hint of contrite when her father showed up. She hated him for that wit.

"Fine. Then I have nothing left to say."

"Remember that one time we went out and you got that huge spaghetti stain on your shirt. I don't even remember how it got that big, but--"

"The waiter tripped and a plate of spaghetti landed on my shirt," Stephanie answered dully, studying her bare ring finger.

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. "You threw a fit, but you were so cute. I remember I took you back to my place since you had flown down to see me and I told you to take your shirt off so I could wash it and get the stain off. You threw another fit and I told you I wasn't suggesting you walk around in your bra and I got you a t-shirt to wear. That t-shirt ended up on the floor about ten minutes later."

"Yeah. That was the first night we…"

"Yeah, the first night…" He looked at her and if possible, his eyes were even sharper. She wanted to say it was like she was his prey, but it was even deeper than that. It was like the hunger was embedded in his cells and every single one pulsed with need and that need was for her.

"Yeah," she said for lack of a better thing to say at the moment.

"So where did it go wrong?"

"It just did," she told him. "That's it, it just did."

"I think it went wrong when you slept with Hunter again," Chris said, laughing at himself. "I just couldn't believe you would do that. I couldn't believe you would let that happen again and I felt stupid…"

"We're not together anymore," Stephanie said. "I think Shane pretty much announced that to the world when he said I was looking for my next husband."

"That was pretty harsh of him."

"He was just being a jackass."

"Didn't stop you from having two kids with him, they _are_ his kids, right? I mean, you've never really put it out there, but you guys were back together, weren't you?"

"They're his kids."

"Both of them?"

"Yes, both of them. We share them, he has them tonight."

"Oh, so that's who you were on the phone with," Chris said knowingly.

"Yeah, it was. But what about you, Shawn mentioned wife and kids, so obviously you remarried…her…"

"Nope," Chris said, "I didn't. I really liked the situation you had going with Hunter, you know, being together, but not getting remarried, tried it out myself and it worked for the most part, we lived together, we were a family. Officially broken up this July, you?"

"February."

"Ouch, _after_ you found out you were pregnant?"

"Yeah, he didn't…well, we just weren't compatible."

She didn't know why she was telling him all these things. Damn him for breaking her so easily. She was supposed to be his boss, she was supposed to have fired him, but no, she was confessing all her deepest, darkest secrets to him? Well forget that. She clammed up again, turning her chair slightly away from his. He wasn't getting anything else out of her.

"I didn't really see you guys as being compatible, not after dating you, for however brief that was for," he told her.

Now she was the one who wasn't talking, just staring off into space. She was so predictable. He got up and went around so he was facing her, leaning against the wall in front of her. She wanted to move it again, but then it would be obvious he was getting under her skin so she just kind of let her eyes wander. The quarters were getting awfully cramped. He was cutting into her precious personal space.

"What are you doing after the show?" he asked.

She faced him abruptly. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Chris…"

"What? Come on…"

"I can't," she told him.

"Why not?"

"My daughter is sick, kind of need to tend to her."

"You said she was with Hunter."

"Well, I mean, I should go see her."

"There aren't any flights, you know that, Steph."

"We tried this, Chris."

"You cheated on me, Steph."

"Are you trying to get your job back?" She was cautious of this man.

"Go out with me," he said, kneeling in front of her chair. "Go out with me, go out with me, go out with me."

She smiled a little, "You should've just left, Jericho, you should've just kept on walking." He brushed her hair out of her face and grinned at her, knowing she was giving in and giving in rapidly. He knew every button, he was so good.

"Now where's the fun in that?"

THE END


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